"Things like that helped grow readership before the race" — i.e., Scott Brown versus Martha Coakley — "came along," Eno tells me. "And when the race came along, it just fed upon itself. At the end of the campaign, we were doing 25 posts a day, and the national people were coming to Red Mass Group to find out about the race."

Eno's self-congratulatory tone here is understandable, given the abiding conviction in some segments of the mainstream media that blogs simply co-opt content created by more traditional and (allegedly) more hard-working outlets. His assessment is echoed by David Kravitz, one of the founders and co-editors of BMG, who lavishes praise on RMG's productivity.

"As far as I can tell," says Kravitz, "those guys must have practically quit their day jobs — because they were putting all kinds of stuff up on the site. They were clearly plugged into the campaign operation, but they did a lot of good stuff on their own."

In addition to savvy marketing and sheer hustle, Eno offers one more explanation for RMG's recent growth: ideological heterogeneity. While Eno's own beliefs are somewhat varied — he questions global warming, but says he'd "probably" have voted to legalize same-sex marriage if it had been put to a vote — he describes himself as an "establishment" Republican. His fellow editors Garrett Quinn and Mike Rossettie, however, are far more libertarian. (Quinn's evolution is the stuff of objectivist wet dreams: high school Howard Zinn acolyte goes to college, reads Ayn Rand, travels in Europe, and falls in love with Ron Paul.) The fourth editor, Paul Ferro, is an unabashed social conservative.

"Blue Mass Group, I think, has the lefty wing of the Democratic Party," Eno contends. "We've been careful not to alienate any wing. And that allows for the representation of a lot of different viewpoints."

Red tideRMG's recent hot streak has Eno thinking very, very big. He says he wants to make RMG his full-time job, that he's searching for conservative benefactors who might help bankroll the site, that he plans to launch a regional conservative political site (possible name: Red Nor'easter) this spring.

"Instapundit is linking to us; Big Government is linking to us; Michelle Malkin, Hot Air," Eno says happily, rattling off a roster of big-name conservative blogs. "For us, there's really no place to go but up."

Time will tell. The challenge for RMG, now that Brown's earthshaking Senate victory is history, will be replicating its recent success. And that may not be so easy. After peaking on the day of the special election, according to the Web metrics site alexa.com, RMG's daily page views have dropped sharply, in recent days barely surpassing those of local conservative alternative hubpolitics.com.

Whatever RMG's future holds, though, one thing is certain: gone are the days when liberals could take Web supremacy for granted.

"The Net is great for helping people connect when they feel left out or under-represented," says Micah Sifry, editor of techpresident.com, a site focused on the intersection of politics and the Web. "It's more in tune with outsider than insider sentiment. The netroots were born when Republicans were in charge, and Democrats at the liberal end of the spectrum were looking for leadership. Then, after the Republicans' 2008 collapse, you started seeing all these conservative sprouts spring up: rebuildtheparty.com, thenextright.com, Republicans experimenting with new social-media tools like Twitter."

State of flux A few weeks ago, the state legislature headed into its winter break with what might be called a flurry of inactivity.

Ready to rumble Last summer, the upcoming race that got most Bay State politicos salivating was the run for governor.

Patrick's paradox Governor Deval Patrick may be the incumbent, but he enters the race for the most thankless statewide job in Massachusetts as an underdog.

Let's get serious The odds are that casino gambling is coming to Massachusetts. The state’s big three — Governor Deval Patrick, State Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo — are all in favor.

Why Deval Patrick deserves your vote When Massachusetts voters go to the polls on Tuesday, November 2, we urge them to cast their votes for the re-election of Governor Deval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray.

Brave the new world Maine is in crisis — big budget shortfalls, lots of people unemployed, a cold winter approaching. And there's this new governor, talking about making life easy for business.

All dogs go to probate court It's funny: while Massachusetts is considered a vanguard in the struggle for same-sex marriage and mellower pot laws, it has been way behind the pack in implementing pet trusts. But no longer.

Deval's Green Blues The document in question contains the final regulations for the state's biomass subsidies, and according to environmentalists, the Patrick administration is planning to reverse its pre-election position — and fly in the face of good science — for the benefit of a handful of developers who stand to make money off of burning trees for energy.

How they hate him Republican Governor Paul LePage has every right to be angry at Maine journalists for depicting him as a clueless buffoon with the political skills of a rabies-maddened raccoon and the public-relations prowess of day-old bait.

BULLY FOR BU! | March 12, 2010 After six years at the Phoenix , I recently got my first pre-emptive libel threat. It came, most unexpectedly, from an investigative reporter. And beyond the fact that this struck me as a blatant attempt at intimidation, it demonstrated how tricky journalism's new, collaboration-driven future could be.

STOP THE QUINN-SANITY! | March 03, 2010 The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

RIGHT CLICK | February 19, 2010 Back in February 2007, a few months after a political neophyte named Deval Patrick cruised to victory in the Massachusetts governor's race with help from a political blog named Blue Mass Group (BMG) — which whipped up pro-Patrick sentiment while aggressively rebutting the governor-to-be's critics — I sized up a recent conservative entry in the local blogosphere.

RANSOM NOTES | February 12, 2010 While reporting from Afghanistan two years ago, David Rohde became, for the second time in his career, an unwilling participant rather than an observer. On October 29, 1995, Rohde had been arrested by Bosnian Serbs. And then in November 2008, Rohde and two Afghan colleagues were en route to an interview with a Taliban commander when they were kidnapped.

POOR RECEPTION | February 08, 2010 The right loves to rant against the "liberal-media elite," but there's one key media sector where the conservative id reigns supreme: talk radio.